The present invention generally relates to infant pacifiers and, in a preferred embodiment thereof, more particularly relates to a pacifier adapted to deliver a liquid into an infant's mouth using a conventional syringe removably connected to the pacifier in place of a closure cap portion thereof.
An infant pacifier is a relatively simple device used to appease crying children or to discourage thumb-sucking or other idiosyncrasies, and is typically provided with a generally nipple-shaped projection which is placed in the infant's mouth. Various attempts have previously been made to incorporate a liquid delivery structure into a pacifier so that, for example, medicinal or nutritional liquids can be administered to the infant while he or she sucks on the pacifier.
One common approach, representatively illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,078,734 to Noble, U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,705 to Noble, U.S. Pat. 5,512,047 to Dvorak, and U.S. Design Pat. No. D391,642 to Fountain, has been to fill the flexible nipple portion of the pacifier, through an open back end portion thereof, with the selected liquid to be administered, then close off the back end of the nipple with a replaceable cap, place the nipple in the infant's mouth, and then let the infant suck the liquid out of the nipple through a small orifice in its front end. A drawback to this previously proposed approach to administering liquid to an infant through a pacifier device is that the liquid is delivered to the infant only if the infant is actually sucking on the pacifier. If the infant will not suck on the pacifier, the liquid remains in the pacifier and does not benefit the infant.
Another previously proposed approach to this liquid delivery problem is illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,680 to Jones in which a device for orally administering liquid to infants includes an elongated liquid container having a generally pacifier-shaped front end portion and an open back end. After the desired type and quantity of liquid is placed in the container, a plunger device is sealingly inserted into the open back end of the container. The pacifier-shaped front end of the container is then placed in the infant's mouth, and the plunger is depressed to force the liquid out of the container into the infant's mouth via a small diameter orifice in the front end of the container. While this approach permits the liquid to be administered to the infant without any sucking force being applied to the device, the device is too long and unwieldy to be suitable in a pure pacifier function-i.e., left for periods of time in the infant's mouth without adult or other external support of the back end of the device.
As can be readily be seen from the foregoing, a need exists for a pacifier device which can function satisfactorily as a pacifier as well as a liquid delivery device which is operable in the absence of an infant sucking force exerted thereon. It is to this need that the present invention is directed.